**2. Methods**

As a general source of data on Yankee whaling expeditions I used Lund (2001). Of the known 14,864 voyages of Yankee whalers there were at least 1101 voyages to the North Atlantic of which 454 were voyages to the Caribbean Basin (including Bermuda). Many of those voyages included whaling operations in more than one location in the Caribbean. All information about those voyages was tabulated by vessel name, year of departure, and locality visited. Many of the logbooks of the vessels involved in this activity were examined at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Free Public Library, New Bedford, and the Providence Public Library. Other information of this activity for this area was compiled from numerous sources cited throughout this chapter.

Yankee Whaling in the Caribbean Basin: Its Impact in a Historical Context 225

Hayford 2000, Romero et al. 2002). The first whaling operations in this area, as defined earlier by Europeans or people of European descent, were in Bermuda. As soon the first English colonists arrived in those islands in 1609 they tried to hunt humpback whales (*Megaptera novaeangliae*) but it was not until 1663 when the first successful attempt took

The earliest record of an attempt to whale in the Caribbean Basin area by New Englanders was in 1688 when there was a petition to the Governor of New York asking for permission to carry on "a fishing Design about the Bohames Islands and Cap florida for sperma Coeti whales and Racks: And so to returned for this Port" (Starbuck 1876, p. 15). The term "sperma Coeti" refers to the sperm whale (*Physeter macrocephalus*) and "Racks" was a spelling used in the seventeenth century for wrecks. Although there is no record that this expedition ever took place, this is an interesting record because it is dated 24 years before the first actual successful hunt of a sperm whale took place by New Englanders in 1712 near

The earliest known logbook that refers to a successful Yankee whaling expedition to the Caribbean Basin is that of *Two Brothers*, from Nantucket, MA. This brig visited Barbados in 1775 (logbook at the New Bedford Whaling Museum under the former collection of the Kendall Whaling Museum). The last one was of the schooner *Athlete* out of New Bedford that visited St. Thomas in 1921. Yet, there are indications that some Yankee whalers had

been visiting the area for many years before that (Clark 1887, p. 64-65) (see Table 1).

1762 "Bermuda Ground" Stackpole 1953, p. 50, Lund 2001, p. 651

Although occasional expeditions also took place primarily between 1830 and 1860, the heyday of Yankee whaling in the Caribbean Basin occurred roughly between 1860 and 1880. Below is the narrative of how Yankee whaling interplayed with the majority of the countries

American whaling vessels frequently visited Barbados. This island has the largest number of visits registered in this study. Yankee whalers engaged in whaling and the trans-shipment of whale oil and utilized Barbadian ports for the re-stocking of provisions. Additionally,

**Year Locality Source(s)** 1730's Bahamas Sanderson 1993, pp. 212-213

1750-1784 Bahamas Tower 1907, p. 33 1762 "French West Indies" Starbuck 1876, p. 41

1762 Barbados Stackpole 1953, p. 51 1763 Barbados Stackpole 1953, p. 23 1768 "West Indies" Stackpole 1953, p. 48-49 1775 St. Eustatius, Barbados Stackpole 1953, p. 73

**Table 1.** Sources of earlier visits of the Caribbean Basin by American whaleships.

place in those waters (Romero 2006).

Nantucket (Hawes 1924, p. 57).

visited.

**4.1. Barbados**
